Libertarians denied spots on Ohio governor's, attorney general's ballot

[theHandpuppet]

http://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/politics/ohio%20government/2014/03/07/husted-earl-governor-election-ohio/6180677/
The Cincinnati Enquirer
March 7, 2014
Libertarians denied spots on Ohio governor's, attorney general's ballot

COLUMBUS The Libertarian candidates for Ohio governor and attorney general are disqualified from the ballot, Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted ruled Friday, because people they used to gather signatures for the ballot did not identify their employers...

...Much of the hearing this week about whether gubernatorial candidate Charlie Earl and attorney general candidate Steve Linnabary should stay on the ballot focused on Democrats' alleged involvement in helping the two gather the 500 signatures they each needed to qualify. One group that helped with the signature-gathering effort had received an $828,000 in 2012 from the Ohio Democratic Party. And the chairman of the Libertarian Party of Ohio, Kevin Knedler, reached out to the chairman of the Ohio Democratic Party, Chris Redfern, when it looked like Earl's campaign might not gather enough signatures.

But even with the Democratic involvement, Smith decided the people who gathered signatures for the candidates could be viewed as Libertarians, as required by law. He instead focused on two petition circulators' failure to indicate who was paying them. That's required by law, even though they were contractors, Smith said.

Husted's decision to uphold that recommendation follows months of controversy over Earl's attempt to get on the ballot. Democrats have hoped that Earl would draw conservative voters away from Gov. John Kasich, thus boosting Democrat Ed FitzGerald's chances in the November election. So Libertarians have accused the GOP of trying to keep Earl off ballot to protect Kasich.... MORE

[leftyohiolib]

1. good ol ohio politics

[Corey_Baker08]

2. As A Resident of Ohio I Would Love To See This Backfire On Kasich...

perhaps Libertarians will instead vote for the Democratic nominee since it is the Republicans that screwed them from being on the ballot, this may turn out to be good for Ohio Democrats because sometimes people who vote Libertarian do so because theyre far from Conservative Republicans but not quite Democrats, so in their eyes perhaps the Democratic candidates will be the lesser of two evils so to speak? IDK Any Thoughts?